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2025 Sun Belt Football: Week 14 Recap
70 Plays14 days ago
Brian and Zeke return to discuss Coastal Carolina's firing of Tim Beck after a 20-18 record at the school, what may be next in the Chanticleers' hiring, and which coaches should also be on the hot seat.
In game action, the pair breaks down Troy's huge 28-18 win over Southern Miss, which punched the Trojans' ticket to the Sun Belt title game, as well as several teams qualifying for bowl games on Saturday.
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Transcript
Introduction and Week 14 Highlights
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome everybody in to the final regular season edition for 2025 of Warm Weather Fans, the Sunpelt Podcast. My name is Brian Stone, joined again this week by Zeke Palermo as we will run down all of the week 14 action that we saw on Saturday.
00:00:33
Speaker
Zeke, we've also had a coaching change that we're going to talk over ah once we sort of wrap up here, or maybe we could talk about it off the top. It's up to
Exciting College Football Events
00:00:42
Speaker
you. But yeah other than that, how's it going?
00:00:44
Speaker
ah It's good, man. I had a good holiday. um It was a really exciting week of college football, a lot of interesting
Coastal Carolina Coaching Changes
00:00:51
Speaker
games, a lot of movement. The Lane Kiffin saga was fun to follow. um you know He is exactly who we all knew he was 10 years ago, um and so it's awesome that he was pretending that wasn't the case. Yeah.
00:01:08
Speaker
No, but we had some good games. As you talked about, a coaching change. We'll just go ahead, I guess, dive into it. As we record this Sunday night, Coastal Carolina announced that they fired head coach Tim Beck after three seasons.
00:01:22
Speaker
Beck, Coastal finished six and six this year. i don't have I'm a little underprepared. I don't have it pulled up. I don't know what that brings Beck to all time at Coastal.
00:01:34
Speaker
um But from a very high level, i will pull it up for you. Sweet. So, but just kind of to kick off the ah the conversation about it from a very high level, this was not terribly surprising that this was the outcome.
00:01:49
Speaker
um I know, Brian, you were very underwhelmed by the higher expectations. Uh, when it happened, they were replacing Jimmy Chadwell, who had done some really incredible things at coastal.
Expectations vs Reality at Coastal Carolina
00:01:59
Speaker
Um, Beck comes in, he gets like half a year, maybe six games out of a injured Grayson McCall.
00:02:06
Speaker
Um, and then after that, just kind of flops. There's there's not a ton. Uh, great to speak of the offense was unimaginative, uh, which is frustrating when you look at Tim Beck being an offensive guy. The defenses were never anything to really, really write home about.
00:02:25
Speaker
um i don't want to say that this was necessarily like a failure of a tenure from Tim Beck, but this was probably the ending that it was always going to have was um a premature firing. They weren't going to let it play it out. He probably wasn't going to get another job elsewhere. Yeah.
00:02:42
Speaker
I don't know. i I've felt very strongly that I think Coastal is one of the few brands in the Sun Belt that demands success from a program perspective, but also from like a national profile standpoint, especially because of those Jamie Chadwell, Grayson McCall years and the surf turf and then Tim Beck going on the beach with the cheerleaders without his shirt on. like It's one of the brands that supersedes ah the conference and and kind of flirts with national media.
00:03:12
Speaker
um to some degree, and so the expectations are higher and it simply weren't met. Tim Beck was 20-18 at Coastal Carolina overall ah through three seasons and was thirteen and eleven in Sunbelt play.
00:03:28
Speaker
ah You mentioned it.
Viral Tweet and Fan Reactions
00:03:30
Speaker
I think the thing that killed him the most was... not being able to identify a quarterback as a as an offensive guy.
00:03:40
Speaker
ah i had a I had a tweet that went viral. you know just I want to throw that out there, but ne I'm throwing it out there for a reason. I started attracting everybody.
00:03:52
Speaker
who yeah it became It became one of those bug zappers where the bugs just see the light and they fly straight into it. I was not... basically talking to anyone outside of my own fan base. So it was weird that everybody got like latched onto this, but there was a moron in my mentions who was arguing with me about the difference between Southern and coastal because we find ourselves as programs on very similar grounds. As far as like, there's a coach that,
00:04:22
Speaker
you know is on thin ice, theoretically, is barely keeping his head above 500 on a yearly basis, has turned in multiple six-win seasons. All of these things applied to both Georgia Southern and Coastal. And this guy was like, well, you got to understand, Coastal, and this guy's a Southern fan, by the way, it acts like I have no idea what's going on at
Tim Beck's Offensive Struggles
00:04:43
Speaker
Coastal. ah He's like, you got to understand, with Chadwell, they were a 10-win team, but with Beck, they were they weren't. And I was like,
00:04:50
Speaker
Do you understand that McCall played there a half a year when he came in and they won eight games? He won eight games off the rip. So yes, it was bad after, but you can't look after year one and go, oh, this was an obvious, like we got fire this guy. I got on the like,
00:05:11
Speaker
i don't I never liked NC State's offense when I watched them. like Back when he was the offensive coordinator, I was like, this is unimaginative as it gets. It's strict spread. There's nothing in here. And they they mixed it up some when Samari Collier this year got uncovered. But like even going back to McCall, they were winning games off of literally the talent that their quarterback had, which was he was the best quarterback in the conference in 2023. That rising tide lifts all boats in that situation. You can be an an iffy offensive play caller. And if you have the best quarterback in the conference, it'll make you look like passable. Now i got, I was totally off the train last year in 2024, watching Ethan Vasco and Noah Kim and a little bit of Tad Hudson, you know, shout out to his uncle. He's been showing us a love on social media. Um, yeah,
00:06:06
Speaker
I was totally off the train with Beck at that point because I'm like, if you're an offensive guy, and you don't know what a, what good quarterback play looks like. That's concerning to me.
00:06:18
Speaker
um And again, the same goes for, for Helton at Southern, like has had a lot of trouble, like identifying a, a good quarterback um to put you in like the top five quarterbacks in the conference. I would say he hasn't done that in his entire time there.
00:06:36
Speaker
And this year, you know, you follow it up, you go six and six, uh, We tweeted it out because, again, Tad Hudson's uncle was was showing us so much love that Tad Hudson, the games that he played, Coastal was like one in five.
00:06:50
Speaker
And the games that Samari Collier played, they were five in one. And they changed the offense, obviously, to more of like a a heavy power run type team. You know, like think Georgia Tech, ah Buster Faulkner's offense over there in Atlanta with Haynes King. That's what they were doing with Samari Collier. And that worked.
00:07:08
Speaker
But the second Collier hurt his leg in the Coastal game, it obviously just went off of a cliff. So like you said, i was pretty uninspired when it happened.
00:07:19
Speaker
I thought there were reasons for optimism after year one, because winning eight games in your first season, when you've got that level of like turnover from Chadwell to Beck, is significant and can't be like really understated.
00:07:31
Speaker
But it it just all came off the tracks after McCall transferred to NC State. Ironically, he goes to NC State, that comes from NC State, and then they just kind of pass each other for like half of a football season. And, you know, it it just didn't work. Like, it you could tell...
00:07:49
Speaker
The non-Samari Collier plays just weren't firing. And like that was all of 2024. They could not score points. They couldn't sustain drives. This year, same thing. If Samari Collier wasn't their quarterback, which was half literally half the season, their quarter their their quarterback play, their offense was totally atrocious. They couldn't do anything.
00:08:11
Speaker
that really scared you. They didn't have any playmakers that felt like on the offensive side of the ball, which was supposed to be his forte. They didn't really have any receivers I was scared of.
Accountability and Hiring Critiques
00:08:20
Speaker
Their running backs left a lot to be desired. Their offensive line was like fine because obviously they were good when Collier played, but they were more of built toward the run rather than throwing the ball.
00:08:32
Speaker
i'm I'm not shocked. I mean, this is what happens when, you know, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, a program actually decides to hold its head coach like accountable and says, hey, winning six games every season is not acceptable.
00:08:44
Speaker
Can't say that for every program in the Sun Belt, which is some seem totally fine to let their head coach just win six games every year. So, yeah, ah the like we said, this is this isn't a terrible shock. um I think From Coastal, the onus is on them, though, um to make a bit—they need to make a good hire here. that That's really the the biggest step for them. And I don't know where—I guess I don't know the history. Where did Chadwell come from? What was his history before ah coming to Coastal?
00:09:23
Speaker
Chadwell was an FCS head coach at Charleston Southern. um which was a very small, like even programmed by FCS standards. Like if they dropped down to d two I don't think anybody would really blink, but he had them winning, winning games over the course of seasons that frankly, they had like no business winning, but the scheme was just so, I mean, you saw it like when McCall yeah ran it it, it was like a thing of beauty to watch this like spread option concept mixed with a quarterback that could do both and run the ball and throw. And
00:10:01
Speaker
That's why I was just like, it's not a good fit with Beck coming in because it's just strictly spread where it's like drop back out of the shotgun, stand there for three seconds, hit a check down.
00:10:14
Speaker
We move, we keep moving the sticks that way or we run inside zone. It was like nothing... That really shocked me. From what I saw, this was how the the um the Beck hire went down. So Chadwell leaves, goes to Liberty.
00:10:29
Speaker
He might be out at Liberty sooner than later. I've already got heard grumblings that Liberty fans are tired of him um because of how this year ended up. So Joe Moglia, ah who I need to check.
00:10:40
Speaker
Is he there still... No, I don't think he's the AD anymore. um He's something called the chair of the athletics division. Does that make you the AD?
00:10:55
Speaker
could not tell you. I could not why tell you what that makes you. I'm just asking. So i read a I read a tweet thread from a reporter who covers Coastal, and this is what he said.
00:11:07
Speaker
Basically, Chadwell left and Mowgli came out and hired Beck after doing very little of a search. was just kind of like, hey, I've got five guys that are on this list that I've made that I'm interested in as candidates.
00:11:24
Speaker
Let me like reach out to them and see what they gauge their interest. And Beck came back and was like, yeah, I'm willing to come be the head coach. And so this guy, I was reading his tweet, said that he asked Mowgli at a press conference. He's like,
00:11:39
Speaker
what do you mean you didn't do a search? You just made a list of five guys like while the season was wrapping up and Moglia for better lack of better terms was like, yeah,
Regional Familiarity in Coaching Hires
00:11:50
Speaker
that's exactly what happened. I made a list of five guys that I thought we could get and was, i was interested in and they came over Uh, and I, I just hired the one that basically seemed like a good fit and would agree to sign with us. So that's not a good way to do business. I think they have someone else in charge of the hiring this time around, so they don't really have to worry about that. Um, but yeah, just, just lazy, lazy hire. um
00:12:16
Speaker
you know I kind of low-key in the preseason kind of started feeling the same way the more we talked about Dowell Loggins at App, where i was like I was trying to make the parallels. I'm like, he's an offensive guy from a school in the Carolinas that's going to another school in the Carolinas.
00:12:32
Speaker
they're They're putting so much weight on... so yeah you know, recruiting footprint like all this other stuff, you know, continuity. He's from the, he's been in the Carolinas. He knows these people, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, the thing that you are not it in in Beck's case, it was the scheme and it was just uninspired. And then in Logan's case, I was like, you, do you get Lenora sellers? No. Okay. Well then what does the team look like if you don't have Lenora sellers running that offense? Um,
00:13:01
Speaker
And you see, it it kind of has not worked out for South Carolina or App this year with the way that that all shook. so Yeah. ah Before we move on from this, I think just kind of want to get a heat check on the other coaches in the conference. um There are three coaches that I think – Could get moved on from this off. Or let me
Sun Belt Coaching Changes and Expectations
00:13:23
Speaker
rephrase. Should get moved off from the season.
00:13:26
Speaker
um Maybe four. Those being ah Major Applewhite at South Alabama. um They'll probably give him a third year. This is only year two. And kind of like Tim Beck...
00:13:38
Speaker
on paper record wise has had two solid seasons. Um, but if you watch the product on the field, especially post geo Lopez and with Bishop Davenport, uh, it's the same thing as Tim Beck where it's just like you had a good quarterback and now you don't. And it's pretty obvious. Um, yeah,
00:13:57
Speaker
Del McGee, I'm hearing that he's probably getting another year at Georgia State, um it just which is crazy having one one conference game in two years.
00:14:09
Speaker
um That's awesome. And then there's two guys who probably aren't going anywhere for a little while, but I i think I know I would like to see the teams move on from ah That's Clay Helton, obviously, and we knew know what's going on there. Just costs the school way too much to fire him, but maybe that's not true.
00:14:27
Speaker
um So who knows? And then Butch Jones, who um is kind of in a similar so ah position of Tim Beck also in that, again, on paper, he's putting on he's getting to bowl games. They're winning games, um but Arkansas State, as you've talked about, ah should have a little higher standard than what they're getting out of them. Is there anyone else, I guess, from your perspective that needs to be looked at maybe this off season, someone that might go into 2026 with like an ultimatum?
00:15:01
Speaker
Uh, Well, I mean, heading into 26, probably Dowell Loggins if the shenanigans on the sideline and everything keep up ah You know, he misses a ah bowl game this season, and we'll talk about the the Arkansas State game, that the way that ended up.
00:15:18
Speaker
i I mean, you know, you kind of listed it. It's like the only other guy I can think of other than Applewhite and McGee are the two big ones where it's like they should have been gone probably already. That should have been announced today. Yeah.
00:15:32
Speaker
But just with the weird stuff going on around the program is maybe Bryant Vincent at ULM. ah Yeah. But he's the AD. So what's he actually I think they just hired. I think they just got today and an official athletic director.
00:15:49
Speaker
OK. um Which could see that movement. Maybe he wants to bring in his own guy. I think they they need to either decide whether they're willing to sink the money into athletics or they just they're not interested. And I think you need to let him know because I think i think if you put him in a competent program,
00:16:10
Speaker
with like the, the requisite funds, I think he could field a pretty good team, but like, what are, what are you supposed to do at ULM? Like how can, how are you supposed to compete in the NIL era?
00:16:22
Speaker
I just don't, I don't know. So i don't blame him either. Like I think he was just kind of dealt like a raw hand and now it's just trying to make the best of it, but they can't get a quarterback in there seemingly.
00:16:37
Speaker
Okay, so get this. ah The new athletic here director at ULM is one S.J. Toey.
00:16:48
Speaker
Sure. ah The brother from the blind side. Oh, Toey. Yeah. yeah Yeah. I'm sorry. Toey. Yes. Yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker
All right. Interesting.
00:17:03
Speaker
Sure, man. Funny how those things work. I'd be like, can I meet Sandra Bullock? You got any, and you got any ends with Sandra Bullock? Um, All right. Do you want to get cracking on these on these yeah rotten games since we we were we ran down the kind of the coaching situation of a lot of these teams? And, you know, it's either it's either like you should want better for yourself with a lot of these teams or like a lot of these guys are kind of early in their tenure or they had good seasons. So it's, you know, kind of a moot point. But I am surprised that the idea that
00:17:38
Speaker
and And this was my tweet, but like Beck goes six and six this year and Coastal's like, we can do better than this. And a lot of other programs are watching their coaches go six to six and are like, yay, we made a ball game. Yay. And I'm like, why are we treating this as like it's an eight year old's birthday party? And like, they just hit the pinato. Like, I just, i don't understand it. Like ah what have higher standards for you? Have some self-respect. Like, what are you doing?
00:18:05
Speaker
And I think, it's I think some programs in the conference you can say that about. Southern, Arkansas State um are kind of the two that are struggling. App State are are kind of the schools that – but there are schools that are – like South Alabama, ULM, Georgia State.
Georgia Southern vs Marshall Recap
00:18:26
Speaker
Those are programs where, you know what, if you're celebrating the bowl when it's okay – um But but if you're right george if you're Georgia State and you have one conference win in two seasons, like what are you celebrating in theory right there? That that doesn't meet the bar at all. um yeah But like with the Major Applewhite situation, i think they I think he has a little more leeway um in terms of just kind of like comparative success as compared to Kane Womack. It's a very young program. Yeah.
00:18:57
Speaker
Yeah. all right. So first game on Saturday was mine. It was Georgia Southern beats Marshall 24 to 19.
00:19:08
Speaker
Marshall's defense did not look like they wanted to play another game after this one. They straight up mailed in the effort. I thought it was. for i I don't want to say it was like disgusting, but the fact that Gibson's supposed to be this like defensive guy and they came in and let JC French shred them was not a sign of like fit great, you know, we did a great job defensive game planning this week. The whole team kind of seemed like at least until Zion Turner came in and got those minutes.
00:19:44
Speaker
um I was like, is Marshall for real right now? What are we doing? I, I just, I felt like I saw no effort from them on Saturday and I was, I was really shocked because I was like, here's what Georgia Southern is going to do coming off of a big loss to, to at home to old dominion.
00:20:00
Speaker
They're going to mail it in They're going ready for the season to be over, like all that stuff. And shockingly, it was Marshall who did that where, um, you know, ah what was his name? Adrian Norton came to play.
00:20:14
Speaker
Zion Turner came to play. They had some guys that like showed up and actually like tried to make it an effort. But like a lot of these guys, it's like, Think about this. Okay, so Joe Sean Barbie has been kind of their lead back this season, right? For Marshall.
00:20:32
Speaker
Against the third worst rushing defense in the conference, who, by the way, just fired their defensive coordinator an hour ago. So that should let you know where we are as a program. He ran for eight yards on seven carries.
00:20:46
Speaker
that that That's what surprised me most about this game. And I understand from like a gameplay game planning perspective, ah you leave the first quarter down 11 points. You go into half down 9, was it? It was 14-6, so you were... Yeah. 8. Or 8, rather. um Duh.
00:21:06
Speaker
So I get why you would move away from the pass, but it's like they showed...
00:21:14
Speaker
ULM levels of incompetence in playing behind in that they abandoned the run entirely as a team. Marshall ran the ball 16 times for 64 yards, 16 times.
00:21:27
Speaker
I didn't know that was possible. Especially against Georgia Southern's defense. Which is, yes, category like categorically one of the worst in the country. It will now forever look a lot better than it did this year because they get to finish with only 64 yards on the ground in this final game. From a per i mean from a per rush perspective, they it wasn't like the defense was doing great.
00:21:52
Speaker
Four per carry for Marshall. um that That's what really per prepare perplexed me most about this game is just the decision to go that way.
Standout Players and Unmet Expectations
00:22:01
Speaker
um and again, you know, the game script kind of plays itself to a pass heavy, but 16 feels obscenely low.
00:22:10
Speaker
It, they, they got behind, like you said, and just totally abandoned it. um it it felt like Georgia Southern did what they did against coastal in the, in that once Tad Hudson came in, they were just like,
00:22:25
Speaker
yeah, we're not scared of you guys running the football. What are you going to do? You want to, you going to let Tad Hudson turn it loose? No. And that was kind of the way it was with, uh, Carlos still real Wilson in this one who was not good.
00:22:38
Speaker
ah nine of 16 completed 56% of his passes, 136 yards and through a pick. Um, I don't know, man, like I,
00:22:50
Speaker
I know that Marshall fans in the preseason were like on us because they were like, we're just going to keep, keep it rolling and we're going to have no issues and not see any drop off from like the, ah the Huff Braylon Braxton team.
00:23:04
Speaker
This is ugly. Like, I was just like, what what are you guys doing? Because i i was getting concerned that as a Southern fan, they were not going to fire their defensive coordinator because their defense was playing up to snuff in this game.
00:23:21
Speaker
Like, I was getting afraid, like, oh, no, they're going to go back and see it was 16 yards or whatever it was in the first half rushing. And I'm like, oh, no, this is going to save his job just just by virtue of this last game. but Yeah, man, until Zion Turner came in, they they couldn't move the ball at all. i mean, they had six first half points.
00:23:40
Speaker
Again, one of the worst defenses in the country, and you're struggling to move the football. ah Turner kind of led a comeback late. He threw like a 44-yard touchdown that I think pulled them within five. I think they went for two, didn't get it.
00:23:55
Speaker
So they were down five, and Georgia Southern just never gave the ball back and just ran the clock out. Yeah. i want i I would want to say in theory that Southern ran the ball well, but they frankly didn't. OJ Arnold and David Bedinga, who were their top two running backs, were out for this game. So there was Tao Todd was the lead back. Bryce Baker was the other guy that mixed in.
00:24:20
Speaker
ah I don't even know that we got any Terrence Gibbs carries in this one, which was shocking for a game where we're down to our third running back. And then Camden Brown played really well. You know, he nine catches on 16 targets. That's an insane number of targets. 157 yards and two touchdowns. The third highest PFF receiving grade of anybody who had more than three targets this week. ah So he just tore him up.
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah, he's been exceptional this year. One of the few bright spots ah from the Georgia Southern perspective. um He is likely out of eligibility, right? Because he did three years at Auburn before this.
00:25:06
Speaker
um done He was excellent this year. Maybe... is he Probably the best receiver in the conference this year.
00:25:20
Speaker
ah I mean, i would probably throw Ted Hurst in there. Ted Hurst. Carl Chester was really good at Southern Miss.
00:25:31
Speaker
Bo Sparks, a guy who we didn't talk a lot at Texas State. i But he, I mean, anyway, the point being, ah a great season for him and a great way to finish his career.
00:25:43
Speaker
from From a production perspective, yeah. like He had it all. He got he got the targets, so he wasn't he didn't have games where he just kind of fell off the face of the earth a lot of times, like unless they were just losing big and they pulled the starters. ah He got the targets. He was a red zone threat. He could win down the field. you know his His route tree wasn't the most robust that I saw of any receiver, but what he did, he did extremely well. It was almost like watching... a college version of like AJ Brown play where it's like big physical guy, but he's going to run a lot of like slug goes like slant and go stuff, or it's going to a curl or it's going to be drag or something like that. It was not, it was not like a wide route tree. He wasn't running like slants and like outs and stuff like that. It was a lot of back shoulder fade stuff. He was great this year. Yeah. I, he, he, He has got to be the player that I have absolutely no beef with. I have not doubted his effort or his production once this season, and I cannot say that about any other Georgia Southern player, truly. I can't.
00:26:53
Speaker
when When they needed a score, they could go to him in the red zone. He was a big, like I said, big physical X receiver. um Yeah, it just sucks that he was a like stranded on this team that was going is going nowhere other than Mobile for the bowl game like sweet ah on the other side of things ah Marshall.
00:27:15
Speaker
I mentioned um Norton had eight catches for 160 in a touchdown. He played well. ah Again, these Marshall fans who were mad at us in the preseason that were like, we're going to we're going to be right in the race for the Sunbelt title. No, you weren't.
00:27:30
Speaker
You won five games. You missed a bowl. You probably played the wrong quarterback all season. ah given how it ended with Del Rio Wilson and Zion Turner looking better in the last two games ah than than Wilson did.
00:27:44
Speaker
i said okay I said this in the preseason, and and one of the YouTube comments on our our season preview for Marshall like killed me for this. I said, if you think this season's not going anywhere, like...
00:27:56
Speaker
If six and six is your ceiling, it's not going anywhere. You need to start rotating younger guys in and getting them reps. And yeah someone in the YouTube comments was like,
00:28:08
Speaker
What Brian suggested was heresy. We don't quit. We don't throw the towel in. And I'm like, there's a difference, though, between being an actual contender and putting putting a bunch of older guys out there who you think, hey, we can win eight, nine games, seven, eight, nine games, and like be in the running at the end of the season for the title game.
00:28:29
Speaker
And being a five win team that's going nowhere fast other than, like i said, Mobile or wherever, Boca. ah And you played you played a bunch of older ah guys with no eligibility left or very little eligibility that don't have high ceilings. That to me is a mistake.
00:28:47
Speaker
We didn't see that across the conference. no one Because there are three teams that I really think should have been doing that this year ah and simply didn't. The first one, obviously, being Coastal Carolina, who stuck with Tad Hudson. We saw some MJ Morris.
00:29:02
Speaker
um And then Samari Collier broke out, but then he broke his leg um and just ultimately may never play football again. um so Coastal, ULM, there's obviously a deficiency of...
00:29:16
Speaker
ability there. It's not, I don't think that they were running out Aiden Armento because they thought that he could be that guy, but maybe because he was the only guy there. um And then Georgia State, ah who who we've talked about, was running with TJ Finley. We saw Christian Valer. We were running the JMU to quarterback thing for a while um before ultimately Camden Brown or Cameron Brown um ultimately won it, but then has missed the last couple weeks. So from ah from a conference perspective, we didn't see at least at the quarterback position, teams that probably should have been leaning on other guys or experimenting with other guys. Because remember, this is how ah Charles Huff found Braylon Braxton.
00:29:58
Speaker
This is how... ah Dominion found Colton Joseph. Colton Joseph. ah Shoot, you go back to ah Louisiana. um A handful of those. I mean, they've had like four or five good quarterbacks over the past six, seven, eight years.
00:30:13
Speaker
A lot of those guys. Jalen Rayner at Arkansas State. Zeon Chris, when he was at Louisiana, is the one that comes to mind. So, I don't know. I understand like this perspective, especially from an optics perspective.
00:30:27
Speaker
um If you're a guy who... you know If you're Tim Beck, who may have had some heat ah coming into the season, or um Bryant Vincent, or Del McGee, guys who kind of did not have an uber secure job, ah I don't know. i I think there's merit to the idea that you may not be in a position to be super creative or experimental with that.
00:30:54
Speaker
ah But can I ask you a question yeah just off the back of that? Shouldn't it be? ah Let me let me take Dell McGee at Georgia State for an example, because he kind of found himself in a similar situation to what you talked about with Huff and Braxton and Ronnie and and Joseph.
00:31:09
Speaker
Shouldn't it be your job to evaluate who actually is the best quarterback to put on the field, regardless of how old they are? Like, shouldn't isn't that part of your job description to say to look at at in practice and go, OK, here are the three guys that we have taken reps. We have TJ Finley, who's been kicking around at nine different schools over the last decade.
00:31:31
Speaker
OK, we know what we kind of have there. Like the ceiling is ultimately not super, super high. Valer, we saw what we had last year. not great. It was not good. Like there's no really way to spin it. Or we have this third guy who's basically a mystery box because I think he's a freshman, right?
00:31:48
Speaker
Okay. We have this third guy as a mystery box. We are not in line to win very much this year, if at all. why don't we give this guy some reps, especially in practice, split starter reps between him and Finley, and then basically let them battle out for the job.
00:32:08
Speaker
Isn't it your job as a coach to determine who's the best quarterback to put out there? And if you're, if you're not, aren't you failing in your duties? Kind of. i I don't think you're wrong. Um, but I'm also, I'm also not certain that it's that simple.
00:32:24
Speaker
Um, I think sometimes it is. And I think sometimes these guys just aren't as good of talent evaluators as we'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt for. i mean, we'll find, i I think the next couple years at Southern Miss, I think next year is Braxton's not a senior, is he?
00:32:41
Speaker
i think so. He played like two years at Tulsa. Whenever it is that Braylon Braxton, I'll pull it up, but whenever it is that Braylon Braxton, I think we'll, we'll kind of see what that blueprint looks like. Um,
00:32:55
Speaker
Well, and but but here's the thing. The same thing goes for Gibson at at Marshall. Shouldn't your offensive coordinator come to you and go, okay, listen, Carlos has not been good the last probably four weeks of the season.
00:33:09
Speaker
The best we're doing possibly is probably six and six. we're not The ceiling's not much higher than that. We're kind of lacking from a weapons perspective. The defense comes in and out, and it's like when they so when they force turnovers, they're good. When they're not forcing turnovers, are ah horrific.
00:33:25
Speaker
maybe we throw Zion Turner out there who I think is a sophomore or a junior and and just see, and just see like what we have in that quarterback spot and see if we can do something different.
00:33:37
Speaker
And for you as the coach to just go, no, we're just going to keep doing the same stuff and hope for different results. I think that's ridiculous because that should be your thing is like, we see what's not working and we don't just put our hands over our ears and pretend like we don't hear it.
00:33:54
Speaker
You know what I mean? I think so, but we're, I think because it's like, there's two possibilities that all of these guys ah are don't recognize that as part of their job.
00:34:08
Speaker
Um, or there's something else, right. there Or there's just another angle to it. Um, and because we've seen, I think Charles Huff is the great example. Um, shoot, even, um,
00:34:22
Speaker
ah Chesney at James Madison when they were flirting with Sluka for so long. You're seeing this at clay with Clay Helton and how he marries the quarterbacks. I think it's just more likely that that it's just not that simple, even even though it should be, and it really feels like it should be that easy.
00:34:38
Speaker
um Well, i I think the important thing, too, and you mentioned Helton being married to whatever quarterback is starting. You cannot put your emotions in front of or personal relationships in front of the success of the team.
00:34:54
Speaker
I'm sorry. Like, it's great if you think. Davis Brin is a great kid and has never done anything wrong in his life and is an upstanding citizen. That's great. He can't throw the football worth of crap. So what, what do we do? Like, why are we wasting 12 games yeah pretending like he can?
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah. I hear what you're saying. it It ain't high school. This isn't high school ball where you, you can give, you know, turn your, the kid that hasn't played a snap all four years into a long snapper like that. It's just, isn't the case.
00:35:23
Speaker
Right. I don't know. I think these these second rounds where these coaches, like we saw with Tim Beck, ah where you actually have to put the onus on them is like, all right, can you evaluate or can you find or can you develop? or are you riding the coattails of this one kid, Butch Jones with Jalen Rayner, another really great example where we just don't know what he's like without a guy like Jalen Rayner, who's been top four quarterback in the conference the past several years.
00:35:54
Speaker
um I think that'll be really telling. It'll be telling for Huff. It'll be telling for Ronnie. It'll be telling for Chesney. um It's already been telling us for Helton. Chesney might not be at JMU after the season's over, to be quite frank. like I wouldn't be surprised if Tulane came and scooped him up after Summerall moved on.
00:36:16
Speaker
I hope not, but that there's a lot of smoke there. So, you know, we'll we'll see how that all goes. ah The next game here, we don't have to spend a ton of time on this. This was yours. I didn't watch a single snap of Georgia State, Old Dominion. No offense. ah It was 0-0 after the first quarter, and I was just kind of sitting there going, Old Dominion, what are we doing?
00:36:40
Speaker
Christian Valera's playing. They're not moving the ball overly well. why are we Why are we kind of playing with our food here ah in Georgia State? uh it wasn't even in you know turner field so it can't you can't use the excuse of like it's just so dead there there's no crowd energy like we just couldn't get excited for this one it's like it was at home to end the season it was senior night like what are what are we doing with this team right now yeah um i think from it from a georgia state perspective actually i'll go with the old dominion perspective first this is the same complaint that we've had about
00:37:17
Speaker
one of several complaints we've had about Old Dominion, um the primary being kind of their weapons ah options, which actually guys showed up. Devin Roche had a great game in this one, ran for over 100, ran really, really well. But it's a similar complaint to what we had with James Madison for early parts of the year, especially after that Washington State game, which was not the early parts of the year. That was like last week. But the point stands is like – if you're trying to differentiate yourself as not just a good G5 team, um but push for obviously the conference championship, um but also for those playoff spots, which James Madison is, Old Dominion is not, but you know there's a world where dice fell elsewhere and Old Dominion was kind of in James Madison's shoes this year.
00:38:06
Speaker
And if you're if you're trying to establish yourself in that position, realm of not just another G5 team, but rather the, like Cincinnati was, uh, a couple of years ago in the American, uh, I'm failing to come up with other examples, but Boise, Boise, right. When you, when you're trying to set yourself up as one of those types of teams, you have to step on the neck.
00:38:31
Speaker
You have to step on the neck. and act going down 10, nothing to Georgia state, ah Georgia state at home is not stepping on the neck. Um, no, this game was never in doubt.
00:38:43
Speaker
Something I don't think I've seen or have not seen often is ESPN's win probability. Georgia state goes up 10, nothing, uh, and old dominion still has 80% chance to win the game, which is crazy and awesome for Georgia state.
00:38:59
Speaker
Um, Yeah, that's kind of the big takeaway, and it's you know the offseason for Old Dominion, and we'll do you know full retrospect at some point in the offseason, or you know as we head into bowl season. But for Old Dominion, it's just like, can we keep on to Colton Joseph? This is the the big thing, um because I'm certain that he's courting offers.
00:39:23
Speaker
Haynes King, he he would do wonders in Georgia Tech's ah offense with Haynes King, who I think is a senior, right? Yeah. And so...
00:39:33
Speaker
That's the Georgia or Old Dominion perspective is like you guys. Yeah. Nine and three. This is an excellent, excellent season. and Definitely exceeded my expectations, but there's still a ways away from the um like that, that James Madison tier from Georgia state. I'm just glad the season's over.
00:39:51
Speaker
I I'm just glad, you know, it sucks that we wasted two years of Ted Hurst. Um, I hope Brown sticks around. I don't know.
00:40:02
Speaker
it sucks that we didn't didn't discover Jordan Simmons until, you know, seven, eight weeks into the season because he's been an excellent running back for the Panthers over the past, you know, back half of the year.
00:40:15
Speaker
Um, yeah, I, it's just like, look, if, if you don't come out and dominate, dominate, even those non-conference games, I'm not certain what the slate looks like. Obviously they're going to have, ah they're going to pull some like an sec game or, but if like Georgia state's ah FCS win, if that isn't a 60, nothing win,
00:40:41
Speaker
um'm um I mean, I'm already done with Del McGee. It was a fun idea. I really like the idea of, like, in theory, this guy who has all these Georgia ties is an excellent recruiter.
00:40:53
Speaker
um But like Dowell Loggins, we're missing the big thing is, can he be a head coach? Can he win football games? ah Right. And that is just ultimately missing, and then...
00:41:06
Speaker
There's been a deafening silence from ah from the administration about it. um So we'll see what happens. I'm just... It's over.
00:41:18
Speaker
Thank God. um Yeah. Shockingly, i mean, you talked about Georgia State going up 10-0 on Old Dominion. Shockingly, Colton Joseph, as a passer at least, turned in maybe his worst performance of his life.
00:41:35
Speaker
ah He had... the lowest passing grade of any quarterback of the Sunbelt that took over 10 snaps this week. He was 17 out of 17. There are 14 Sunbelt teams. He was 9 of 22 for 106 yards and an interception. His yards per attempt was 4.8.
00:41:57
Speaker
but his ADOT 13.4. ah So at least, i guess he was trying some shots, but they just weren't hitting. ah Or maybe, like you said, maybe maybe he potentially has started, you know, putting his eye out for another for some other bigger schools to say, like...
00:42:15
Speaker
hey, we're out here. you know if you're If you really are like looking to take a step up in competition or something, like let us know. But I don't know. This was a weird performance by Old Dominion just as a team reminiscent of the JMU Georgia State game where it was just a really good team just sleepwalks their way through like a bad 1-11 Georgia State team that's winless in the Sun Belt. Winless in the FBS, mind you. Oh, that's right. yeah, yeah.
00:42:44
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, you mentioned it. Devin Roche, 21 carries, 137 yards, two touchdowns. Uh, he played well, but outside of that and defensively, you know, obviously old dominion stepped up, but defensively, how much do you have to step up against Christian Valera? Let's be honest.
00:43:01
Speaker
Uh, the layer you know completed less than half of his passes as per tradition i don't know if that's like required uh in his n nil agreement that he never completes more than 50 of his passes but it always seems to be the case 154 yards on the score in a game they lost by 17 points um yeah don't don't smile because it happened cry because it's over i guess uh you know Georgia State. We'll see you next year, man. That's all there really is. We'll we'll see what parts stick around. Again, I think the two best – from a production perspective, the two best ah offensive players in Jordan Simmons and Ted Hirsch just simply are not allowed to play college football anymore. our quarterback, again, i you're i would be surprised if –
00:43:52
Speaker
there's not another G five team that can win, that can send him to a bowl game. Right. um And then, you know, with the pretense of, Hey, you can parlay this into then your power five, power four, whatever um career with Purdue or wherever you want to end up. But Even still, um ah imagine I wouldn't be shocked if another Sunbelt school came and scooped him up. And, you know, let's say let's say Braylon Braxton's out of eligibility.
00:44:21
Speaker
Let's say Charles Huff gives him a call and goes, hey, man, you enter the portal. Your Southern Miss is starting quarterback day one, 2026. want come play here or you to play? You want to stay in Atlanta?
00:44:34
Speaker
Well, you know who runs a team that also needs a ah real dual threat is Old Dominion. I think if if we're looking at very, very hypothetical ideas, should Colton Joseph get courted away?
00:44:47
Speaker
um you get him we but We don't know how they feel about Quinn Hennicle. He has played somewhat in relief of Joseph. Yeah. I don't know how high they are on him. i would i I would assume that he would be next up in starting. ah I would imagine they they would feel like they already have kind of a succession plan in place. But I'm talking about teams that it feels like, okay, our guy's gone and what the hell do we do now?
00:45:14
Speaker
ah So, yeah. um He may have options on the table. I feel like if I was a head coach in the Sun Belt and I desperately needed a quarterback, I would be like, yeah, man.
00:45:26
Speaker
bring it, ah bring your, bring yourself over here and, and we'll, we'll do some stuff, but you know, how long are you going to stick around? if if McGee is already dead in the water heading into 26, and this is just going to be like a lame duck season, why stick around when you could place even somewhere else in the Sunbelt and be semi-competitive?
00:45:44
Speaker
Uh, I don't know. ah All right. This next one here was actually really... We had two games in a row that were really exciting. So Arkansas State comes back. They drive down the field with like a minute to go.
00:45:59
Speaker
Jalen Rayner hits some big throws to... i think it was Fortenberry and ah Corey Rucker that take them basically all the way down the field with like a minute left. And then Kenyon Clay cashes in ah a game-winning touchdown run ah with...
00:46:14
Speaker
what 42 seconds to go. ah They went 75 plays in less than 75 yards, seven plays in less than a minute, which you talked about the Thursday night, Louisiana loss that Arkansas state had.
00:46:29
Speaker
This makes that look even worse because you went 75 yards and seven plays, and then you struggled to run more than four plays in a loss on the goal line to Louisiana.
00:46:39
Speaker
and, Butch Jones continues to keep his head barely above water. He's he's just Clay Helton West. ah And, you know, he better thank his lucky stars every day that Jalen Rayner stuck around for as long as he did. Because that's another guy i wouldn't be shocked if he was just like, hey, man, if you're not going to build around me and like give me anything to actually win with, what why are why are we even wasting our time?
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that's on the defensive side because they've got the weapons. Obviously, Jaquez crossed. That was kind of a late scratch, um but there there was plans to have an elite running back, and then Corey Rucker just kind of disappeared this year. So it's on the defensive side that they've not been supporting him, ah but that's kind of been the case the whole time.
00:47:26
Speaker
So what's up? They found a pass rush, but don't have anything else outside of the the front four. ah This game comes down to a missed field goal that had the distance but falls just wide right.
00:47:40
Speaker
um So Arkansas State, I mean, and mind you, this game was ah a bowl eligibility game. Winner goes to a bowl game. um Two middling teams with probably similar futures. I think Arkansas State has a bit more... um Going for it in terms of an established head coach, again, I've not by any means been shy about how low I am on Butch Jones, but there's at least a guy who's been there who has a vision. The vision is scoring 40 points a game and allowing 35, but there is a vision um compared to App State, which, I don't know, that a very uninspiring first year from Dowell Loggins.
00:48:29
Speaker
Messy. like ah a lot of stuff on the field and off the field that don't make a lick of sense. Um, from the, from the vibes that I, I have gotten from him. Uh, he kind of thinks he walks on water and shouldn't be questioned, uh, under any circumstances. Cause he has this NFL background as an offensive coordinator, not a successful offensive coordinator in the NFL, just an offensive coordinator in the NFL. Uh, uh,
00:48:57
Speaker
Made the wrong decision a lot of times with starting the wrong quarterback. ah Played AJ Swan way more than he should have. Had JJ Cole like kind of languishing on the bench. He was good in this one.
00:49:09
Speaker
Threw for 271 and two touchdowns. Picked the wrong running back. Had Rashad DeBinion playing too much. Jakari Lewis played well in this one. 22 carries for 108.
00:49:21
Speaker
basically anything you could think of to screw up a college football season, he did it. He, he had his son on the sideline for ah a 48 point blowout loss. ah You know, like I said, was picking the wrong players, like all of that sort of stuff.
00:49:37
Speaker
Man, this was this was a messy, messy first season. I think a lot of App State fans are already kind of out on him. I think the worst thing that could happen to them long term if they really are kind of done with him already is that he comes out and wins seven games next year and he gets a year three, which is the...
00:49:55
Speaker
ah who Who did that? I can't remember. There was a coach that did that. And we were like, oh, it was um Elliot. Yeah. It was like our and Sean. What I would kill for those six and six years, though, man, what what I would do to have him back.
00:50:13
Speaker
Well, we said we said that they were like, if you're not going to compete and you're not going to be really bad to the point where you fire the guy, the worst thing you can do is barely squeak into a bowl game because all the AD is going to look at is, hey, we're in a bowl game. Like, we've never been here before. or We've been here very little.
00:50:29
Speaker
and app is kind of the same thing, but with a little bit of a higher standard, they had Sean Clark winning some weak East divisions there and was getting into the Sunbelt title game and then would just get his absolute doors blown off by like Louisiana and stuff.
00:50:45
Speaker
But it's, um, Yeah, next year next year either needs to be like a significant rise. You need to see like probably seven, eight wins. The worst thing that can happen is you're you're five and six again going into week 14, and you win week 14, and then the AD just looks at it and goes, oh, we made a bowl game. We finished six and six. like Good enough for me. here's Here's a rubber stamp for year three.
00:51:13
Speaker
I mean, that's that's kind of the spot Arkansas State has been sitting in for the past several years as well, is where like Butch Jones is winning six, seven games a year, and it's like, awesome.
00:51:23
Speaker
Is this our ceiling? um I mean, Arkansas State, unlike App, hasn't been flirting with the conference championship games. It's not been um not since Blake Anderson. so Yeah. um i I don't know when they're going to...
00:51:40
Speaker
i Basically, after the season after Jalen Rayner leaves, I would like to go ahead and put in a bet on Butch Jones' first coach fired. I've been saying that for the past three years, though. I know. No, no but I'm saying Jalen Rayner is the life raft that's keeping his head above water. And once that's done, again, Rayner played excellent in this game. 363, three touchdowns, one interception.
00:52:05
Speaker
drove Like I said, drove them 75 yards in like less than a minute at the end of the game here, just kind of showing what he can do. The second he leaves, whether it be via I'm out of eligibility or I'm transferring elsewhere, I'll go ahead and throw like $50 on the first coach first Sunbelt coach fired Butch Jones.
00:52:23
Speaker
Because we saw before Rainer what those quarterback rooms look like, and they were not pretty to watch. So he's kind of in the Tim Beck mo mold of like, you have a guy for a little bit and you better hope it lasts a long time and that you're able to build off of it. Because if not, you're back to square one, buddy. The second this guy leaves is kind of where I'm at with him. yeah.
00:52:48
Speaker
Yeah, it it really it really does suck that both because they're so similar Georgia Southern and Arkansas State both had these guys win eight games last year and the 80s were just so they had stars in their eyes and we're like, oh my gosh, you won eight games. You got to be the best coach I've ever seen. And then they get these extensions and they just mail in the next season. Yeah.
00:53:11
Speaker
But it is what it is, I guess. That's where we are. yeah Yep. ah So Arkansas State is going bowling, and App State is going to go back to the drawing board for 26 and see see what's going on. um Another interesting, fun game here was Louisiana going to overtime against ULM.
00:53:30
Speaker
Aiden Armenta played the game of his life. Unfortunately, it didn't ultimately matter. ah He threw for 311 and three touchdowns. Bill Davis finally showed up. and And again, we do not, we do not knock the running backs for Louisiana because we think they have talent, but the offensive line has been so bad this year that they just haven't had room to run. He had 15 carries for one 26 and a score.
00:53:53
Speaker
ah Lunch Winfield did almost nothing passing wise through for 82 yards ah on 10 completions. um Yeah, it was just this this is kind of how Louisiana wins these games. A lot of times it's like you look at the numbers and go, wait a minute. How did they score 34 points? And then it's just you don't think about it.
00:54:17
Speaker
Like just just move on and be like Louisiana one. That's all we have to care about. They're going to a bowl game. this is ah This game was lost, maybe not lost, but certainly not helped by a guy who we've given a break, ah I think, Bryant Vincent, because Vincent does the same thing Darrell Loggins does in that he is the head coach and offensive coordinator, and there's not really a guy behind him ah in that room. In overtime, on the goal line, when your quarterback, who, mind you,
00:54:52
Speaker
is having the best game of his career. A guy who has a more touchdowns than interceptions for the first time since September is throwing for a career high yardage.
00:55:05
Speaker
Um, on the goal line, you're like the nine yard line. You pull out taste some Hill and let him throw an interception. Uh, And then against your rival in a game that means a lot to a lot of people in a game that, um, for ULM doesn't change a ton.
00:55:25
Speaker
Three and nine versus four and eight is not a huge, um, needle mover. I thought that was complete malpractice. I get that you want to have your Philly Philly moment.
00:55:36
Speaker
Um, But this is not that. This is running out of like the pistol with four guys in the backfield doing like a fake handoff, letting, again, ah what is ultimately a tight end that plays quarterback ah throw a lob to the corner of the end zone for him to get mossed by a Louisiana defensive back. um dode i that was That blew my mind to see Hunter Herring come out and I think is really, really unexcusable.
00:56:10
Speaker
Yeah, you can't you can't do that. Um... i I don't know, man. I will say a little bit is on herring where you have to know in that spot, like if I don't have it, just throw it away.
00:56:28
Speaker
yeah at least need to get three out of this possession to like, keep, keep us alive somewhat. Like if we get three in Louisiana gets the ball after then, ah you know, they can kick a field goal. We're on the second overtime, but to throw a pick in that situation is kind of unforgivable. I know it was a good play by the the Louisiana defender, but man, if I'm hearing, I'm throwing the ball in only a spot where my guy can get it, or he's going to have to make the, you know, what was it? The immaculate reception ah with a what's his name? The 49ers receiver. So I, I'm just like,
00:57:05
Speaker
Yeah, I need to, you got to go back to the drawing board if you're Brian Vincent and find some new ah goal line sets to run because like you said, it's like if Armenta is thrown for 311 and three scores, you got a receiver in Trujillo with four catches for 133 and two touchdowns.
00:57:24
Speaker
what What are we doing running the Taysom Hill package on the on the goal line and letting him throw ah a fade? Mm-hmm. i And it's like if this was a game like, shoot, um I'm going back through their games, like South Alabama, right?
00:57:41
Speaker
Or, I mean, really just any other Aiden Armenta game this year where he limps through the game on like 54% and he's throwing for 170 yards with a touchdown and a pick.
00:57:54
Speaker
i think I think there's some merit. I think there's some merit. but do you not feed the hot hand?
00:58:04
Speaker
that That's like letting Klay Thompson hit 11 threes in a quarter and saying, hey, man, you want you want to take the third quarter off? You should give Draymond more offensive touches. That's what we really need.
00:58:21
Speaker
Oh, goodness. Bryant Vincent doing the same thing, Dowell Loggins, and he's gone pretty untouched by us ah for that. and No longer. i yeah, this was a stupid call for sure, but I just feel like they are in a rare spot at, at ULM. That is not really comparable to anybody else in the conference. As far as like lack of funding and resources.
00:58:46
Speaker
ah I think if you took Bryant Vincent and you dropped him onto, I think if you made him coastal's head coach, they'd be a respectable team overnight. Now,
00:58:58
Speaker
the goal line sets might leave a lot to be desired, but maybe he doesn't have a taste. Some Hill player at, at coastal to run those sets with. Uh, but I, I just feel like the reason I give him a pass is like, go ahead and name me successful coaches in the history of ULM football.
00:59:15
Speaker
Yeah. It just seems like a ah graveyard where it's like, you need to have the ultimate scheme advantage because you will not have the talent advantage no matter what.
00:59:27
Speaker
So, and and I think he, I think his scheme is good, but it's not, you have to at least have a quarterback that kind of scares the other team and that he hasn't, our Minta up until Saturday has not done that ever.
00:59:40
Speaker
Really? So he's kind of been fighting with one hand tied behind his back a little bit.
00:59:47
Speaker
um Good win for Louisiana, though. ah You know, lunch is still an iffy passer. ah Some games he comes out and he's throwing bombs and it looks great. And then other games he can't crack 90 yards passing.
01:00:03
Speaker
But that team is also kind of a mess where it's like everything starts up front at the and the al of the line and it all it all just sort of trickles downhill after a while. So I don't know how much you can put on him versus the rest of the team, especially the line.
01:00:20
Speaker
Well, look, if if you want Billy Napier back, as we've been saying for several weeks in any capacity. um Consultant do whatever Hugh Jackson was doing last year.
01:00:32
Speaker
He's available. Right. let Let Napier come back and be an analyst for $100,000 and secretly be your head coach ah you know or whatever. um Next game here, Texas State ends their Sun Belt regular season tenure with a 49-26 win over so lowly South Alabama. ah Brad Jackson once again went crazy in this one and accounted for five touchdowns, 280 yards passing and two touchdowns through the air, 113 and three scores on the ground.
01:01:04
Speaker
They have found themselves like a really nice quarterback and, this is probably the biggest backhanded compliment I've given. GJ. Kenny's not going anywhere because of how this season has gone. ah and And probably neither is Brad Jackson. So you're going to the pack 12. You may have a little bit of optimism with that. Cause early it was like GJ. Kenny's being looked at by Oklahoma state and some of these other coaches. And now it's like,
01:01:31
Speaker
the musical chairs is almost done for the jobs that they would potentially go to. And now you're just sort of looking around and it's like, G.J. Kenny's not going anywhere. Is anybody going to hire a guy that didn't win a Sunbelt game till like late October, early November? Probably not.
01:01:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think Brad Jackson is... not getting the, even attention from us, but I would say national attention that he deserves because he's putting up performances la Colton Joseph. Obviously, even though their numbers are relatively similar, they do it in different ways with Old Dominion doing like a very,
01:02:09
Speaker
quarterback design run, whereas Jackson is is very mobile, plays out of structure well. And they call what when they do call plays for him, it's ah it's a little different ah schematically. But he's been absolutely incredible. um I think he has to win conference newcomer of the year.
01:02:27
Speaker
Um, which last year was won by Braxton. I, I can't really fathom a guy who's had a better year because Brad Jackson, frankly, if not, if Braylon Braxton and Colton Joseph, I think he would be the offensive player of the year or the, or the player of the year. I don't know how they split because I know they split quarterbacks away in one of the two, but, um,
01:02:48
Speaker
I think if not for, you know, we're we're talking two of the best quarterbacks to this conference has seen since um since like Grayson McCall. um Jordan McCloud.
01:03:01
Speaker
jordan mc I mean, Jordan McCloud only last year. So, yeah, I think. No, I was talking more about the JMU 2023 season.
01:03:10
Speaker
season Yeah, yeah, before he went over. a lot He was a lot better at JMU than he was at Texas State. Oh, certainly, certainly. um i think this sets... so I liked your point about ah how after how this season just kind of ultimately finished for the Bobcats, Kenny's probably not going anywhere. Jackson may not go anywhere. i would hope not for their sake.
01:03:32
Speaker
um That sets you up pretty well, though, for the next couple years. Because remember, Brad Jackson, ah very, very young. I believe a freshman, possibly a true freshman. i think he's a redshirt freshman this year.
01:03:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, either way, he's got three more years, and it's like... You know, if obviously the, the difficulty GJ Kinney has had is the same one as Butch Jones. It's like guy can't put a defense around him.
01:03:56
Speaker
um but they're they're in a better spot than you know we kind of thought they were going to be, especially after those first couple weeks um of Sunbelt play.
01:04:08
Speaker
and They kind of beat up on the worst of the conference right at the end of the season, so I'm i'm a little more hesitant to get... like They weren't even beating mid-tier teams like Louisiana, Troy.
01:04:19
Speaker
ah you know i guess i guess you could say Troy's not, but you know what ah you know what I'm talking about. like yeah These teams were not anything really like super super special and they just like couldn't do defensively they were awful uh i know they beat uh you know southern miss but that was the week that braxton was out southern miss is also kind of cratered the last three weeks and i don't really know what happened there i want to ask you this and i kind of am joking and i'm kind of not i'm gonna put on my tinfoil hat for a moment
01:04:53
Speaker
you You mentioned Brad Jackson potentially winning conference newcomer of the year. Is there any chance that the Sunbelt looks at this school that's outgoing to the Pac-12 and goes, we're not giving these guys any major awards on the way out the door?
01:05:06
Speaker
Um, I don't know. I think it's, it depends on how the awards are done. Right. I know some of them are done by the coaches. Some of them are done by kind of a conference.
01:05:18
Speaker
So like if it's the other coaches, I don't, I don't think they care. I, I, I mean, they're ball guys. They, they, um,
01:05:26
Speaker
I'm not maybe, maybe I guess it depends. Like it it'd be weird to be like, all right, we're going to etch the name on this trophy or whatever that, and we'll never see this team play in this conference ever again, or probably never play another team in this conference because realistically, like how many times do you think Texas state are going to schedule a Sunbelt team in the near future? They probably think they're, you know, looking their noses down on everybody. Now they're like, well, we're in the pack 12. We can't,
01:05:55
Speaker
kids Yeah, the high rollers of Colorado State and Oregon State. um I don't know. ah That'd be interesting. I think that's an interesting point. It just, I don't know who else, I don't know who qualifies because I don't know if it's a transfer thing or if it's just your first time playing. um So i we'll find out, but who knows, man? Maybe crazier things have happened.
01:06:23
Speaker
I'm getting to this next game here. This was the, the West decider. ah Yeah. Troy beats Southern miss 28, 18 credit Detroit. I thought Southern miss was going to bounce back in this one. And they, they didn't. Braxton.
01:06:38
Speaker
Braxton. The PFF grade doesn't reflect it. I thought he was terrible for about two and a half, three quarters. um He was just straight up like not getting it done. I don't really know what his deal is if he's not all the way fully healthy from whatever his injury was yet.
01:06:57
Speaker
But it was like he threw for 400 yards last week. Like where, where, why are we getting, you know, why are we getting these bad performances? I think early, you know, going down 14, three at half,
01:07:08
Speaker
he basically like lost the game for him because you know, you come into this game knowing you don't have a running game, you know, typically neither team does, but you come into this game knowing as Southern Miss, like Braxton's going to have to win us this game.
01:07:23
Speaker
They did nothing for like a long time offensively, and then they tried to make this like furious comeback at the end, and Crowder played well, 24 of 34 for 285 and three scores. you know Meadows went over 80 yards for the first time against a Sunbelt ah or FBS opponent this season, which is an insane stat. that He ran for 94 yards and a score. Rah-Rah Thomas.
01:07:48
Speaker
five catches, 118 and two scores. Troy stepped up in this one. Like I said, I just thought Braxton was absolutely like out of character, terrible for a lot of this game. I am hesitant to put all of it on him because In the midseason, we spent a long time ah in the in one of our episodes talking about how Charles Huff, for whatever reason, historically can't get it done in the red zone.
01:08:16
Speaker
Right. um And had kind of... avoided a lot of that this year. Southern Miss has been by no means world beating, but you know, average what you expect out of a good team in the red zone. um There are two decisions that ah Charles Huff made or whoever on his staff made, I think ultimately costs Southern Miss the game.
01:08:40
Speaker
First quarter, ah it is zero zero Fourth and goal from the eighth. You line up for a field goal. It ultimately gets missed. I'm not mad. that Obviously, you've got to hit that. ah That's a about as a gimme as you can get, a 20-yarder.
01:08:57
Speaker
But I'm not mad about that because the kicker shouldn't have been on the field. I really don't think so. Because wouldn't you know, come down into the fourth quarter, you're down 10 points with...
01:09:13
Speaker
Let's see. think it was like less than 30 seconds left in the game. Same thing from the fourth and four on the 28. I think you go for it there. I understand.
01:09:28
Speaker
But like if in that's a tough field goal ah from the 28, that's a 46 yarder. That's a tough kick for a college kicker to make, especially a guy who missed a chippy earlier in the game.
01:09:42
Speaker
Because at the in the world, I don't know. I think those are two incredibly conservative decisions there by Charles Huff that i i I absolutely hated. hated. and i And yeah, bra Braxton was bad. he I mean, this was the game that I had my eyes on for most of the most of the day because this decided who got who gets to get whooped by James Madison. and We'll talk more about that later in the week, but...
01:10:08
Speaker
I think that's malpractice, ah much like with the Brian Vincent thing. like that That's a non-starter for me. um And then, obviously, it comes back to the ah the running game, the inability to run the ball.
01:10:22
Speaker
Your leading rusher is Robert Briggs, 6 for 30. ah Robert Briggs, by the way, ah like I don't know, man. It's just frustrating. It's frustrating because this— and
01:10:36
Speaker
i I go back and forth because I saw don't know who it was from, but it was a tweet about Southern Miss season. And it's like, think about where Southern Miss was last year and under Will Hall.
01:10:49
Speaker
And the fact that you- Are you talking about what I said last week on the podcast or you saw another tweet that also said this? i i I totally forgot. If you said the same sentiment, I'd already forgotten it. um Where it's like,
01:11:03
Speaker
But it's like, man, you i don't I don't know if you get to just say, well, this is good enough because of how good how poor we've been in the past. And i keep going back and forth on it.
01:11:14
Speaker
um Well, three losses. Yeah, i mean, I was I was of the opinion. i even said this like last week. i I gave that whole thing about like, look at where you started. Look at where you are now.
01:11:26
Speaker
I'm not excusing them blowing these last two games in like embarrassing fashion. I mean, they they lost to South Alabama. They had no business losing that game. Then you come out, you know what you have to play for against Troy.
01:11:40
Speaker
I think it's two things. A Braxton didn't play well and he may still be suffering from his shoulder. I think is what was wrong. ah Going into that Texas state game. He may still be suffering from that injury that may be impacting his play. I don't know.
01:11:56
Speaker
I think some of the onus needs to be on Charles Huff and the, the recruiting or lack of transfer portal production that he got from the running back spot this year, because He came from Penn State to Marshall. He was a running backs coach. He was supposed to be a running backs guy who coached Saquon Barkley, which was his big like claim to not claim to fame, but that was his big like calling card was like, I coached Saquon Barkley at Penn State.
01:12:24
Speaker
To not be able to get a passable running back this season has killed Southern Miss's chances, I think, because it puts so much pressure.
01:12:34
Speaker
Again, Braxton was not good in this game, so i'm not letting him off the hook, but it puts so much pressure on him to make every single play. And now that the defense is also cratering late in the season against Texas State, South Alabama, and now Troy, and given up at least 28 points or more in each of those three games when it really mattered and got to be about crunch time, this was kind of a ah team effort failure, I feel like.
01:13:02
Speaker
This was not just on one person. Sure. Yeah. Something I want to point to and to your point about running backs, there's three leading rushers from running backs to this year, Jeffrey Pittman, Matt Jones, Robert Briggs.
01:13:15
Speaker
um This is just to quantify what you said. All three were transfers, Pittman from Miss State, ah Jones from Ole Miss, and then Robert Briggs from Utah State. um we're looking at two guys. They're transferring in from sec programs. Uh, they were middling at the, at best, uh, Pittman ran for two 68 last year, Jones two 26.
01:13:40
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's a talent identification problem um that it seems like is plaguing the entire conference. ah and it And it makes you look at the previous, like Marshall's performances last year and the years where we're boasting Rasheen Ali's and we're boasting guys who are now, you know, flirting with NFL practice squads, which, you know, isn't the world's highest bar. But for for this level, that's that's a huge, huge bar.
01:14:08
Speaker
Um, Kalen Laybourne, another guy that was like lost to the sands of time played that one. That yeah season the one season that Ali was out most of the year and ran for like 1200 yards or something like that. Like that was, that was nuts. The the fact that AJ Turner last year was good for Marshall and was, it was sort of that Jameer Gibbs, like home run hitting type of running back that, that they had,
01:14:32
Speaker
The fact that they just couldn't ever get a running game off the ground without basically Braylon Braxton's legs being the running game as well is is like, you know, we've called out teams for that before. You know, Arkansas State after cross when Jaquez cross went down, couldn't do it. You know, Old Dominion has had moments where it was like some weeks Devin Rose shows up.
01:14:56
Speaker
But also some weeks he doesn't, and he runs for like 52 yards. um you know We talked about it with App. Dubinian has been so kind of a bust coming over from Arkansas.
01:15:09
Speaker
the The fact that you couldn't identify a running back that actually made a difference and get that guy into the program as the reigning Sunbelt winning coach and quarterback combo – That's that's got to fall right at Huff's feet because he's supposed to be that guy as a running backs coach.
01:15:27
Speaker
Yeah. And that comes, that's the point that we've been making over the past several weeks as we've really been able to reflect is that this is a team that has that very obvious Marshall lacquer on top of it all.
01:15:41
Speaker
Um, but there's still some glaring holes. Is that an issue? i i don't know yet because this is only year one, right? i I don't expect the guy to revitalize the entire program, which was bottom worst in the conference for several years in a row. a team that did not have a quarterback. You could have summed up the past three years of Southern Miss quarterbacks and their yardage totals weren't going to equate what Braylon Braxton has done in this year alone.
01:16:09
Speaker
Um, so i you know, I don't know if that's necessarily a failure, but it's, it's obvious now. And that lacquer is really cracking, um, as Braxton, you know, deals with his injury.
01:16:23
Speaker
Um, and as other parts of that, that team get exposed, I think Charles Huff is going to have a time next year. I think it's going to be very revealing about the nature of this program and whether,
01:16:37
Speaker
Whether this is what Tim Beck had and ah with his one year with Grayson McCall. um i don't I don't know if this is his Grayson McCall year or not. We'll find out. Well, the one the the one thing Tim Beck never had, was which was a Sunbelt title, ah is going to buy a Huff a lot of goodwill, even if they take a step back as a team next year and they win...
01:17:00
Speaker
five, six games, you're still going come back and go, okay, but you know, last year was kind of putting ah a new coat of paint on a car that has like real engine issues, um which it looks great on the surface and it may tide you over for a little bit, but at the end of the day,
01:17:17
Speaker
you know You go to crank that that sucker and you need to get to work on time and the engine doesn't work. And just because you put a cherry red coat of paint on the outside of it doesn't mean the car actually runs. So I think that's going to be something. you know I don't know if they're going to stick with Landry Liddy as the quarterback successor to Braxton. He played some this year. Yeah.
01:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what they what they end up doing. You know, Troy, ah credit to them, obviously. Oh, yeah. i I had run through on previous episodes a lot of their what their wins had been and the Sun Belt, and they weren't overly impressive. But, man, they they got it done, and it's like...
01:18:00
Speaker
Will they probably lose very badly to James Madison? Yes, but this is a big step up for Gerard Parker in the coaching department from winning four games in year one and looking like another Tim Beck DOA head coach where it was like the second he came in you were just, this isn't going to work. The system, the system that you're running at Notre Dame with that level of talent is not going to work at Troy when you don't have that same level of talent.
01:18:30
Speaker
And he's, he's found out a way to like make Crowder kill crease, like all these guys in the mix. Again, he up until this week, he had a running back starting for him that hadn't run for over 79 yards against an FBS team. And they were, want they won eight games this year.
01:18:47
Speaker
So credit to him. and and they stay alive for another week and they get to face James Madison next Saturday. Yeah. I hate to play like the what if isms, but it's like, what if this team was, ah if goose Crowder was healthy all year, because he's been the real, um obviously Southern miss hitting the wall over the past three weeks has been a Lynch there, but a goose Crowder, I mean, 70% that those are types of numbers that we saw briefly from Tucker kill crease for like that two week stretch in like week nine, week 10 or something.
01:19:21
Speaker
Um, But it's like, shoot, man, even going back to last year when when we had this revolving door at quarterback for Troy, it's like, shoot, I... Is Goose the truth?
01:19:33
Speaker
i well like it i I think if Goose stays healthy all year, they there's only one game that ultimately could be different, and it doesn't really change anything for them as a team. they i think it'd be 9-3. It's the Arkansas State game where Kilcrease was so bad. They scored 10 points.
01:19:53
Speaker
I don't remember his numbers in that game, but it was it was bad. They were like non-competitive bad. I don't think you beat... ODU, game that you lost 33-0. lot the times they lost, was like a lot of the times they lost it was so like, yeah, everybody saw this coming and this was going to happen no matter what.
01:20:14
Speaker
ah In those losses, Memphis Crowder was healthy for some early in that game. It's the offense still didn't look good against Memphis. So I don't think he ultimately changes the results of that one either.
Sunbelt Title Game and Clemson's Influence
01:20:25
Speaker
You didn't beat Clemson with goose Crowder. That doesn't change.
01:20:28
Speaker
There's three of your losses right there. um But I think Arkansas, so the Arkansas state game ultimately could have been decided differently if, if Crowder stays healthy, but yeah, That wouldn't have changed the overall trajectory of this season. I mean, they're in the Sunbelt title game. It's just a matter of whether you be 8-4 or nine and three Yeah, i think my point, rather, is is last year. I mean, it was a a relatively record-wise poor Troy team ah with Matthew Caldwell, and then we saw some of Kilcris.
01:20:56
Speaker
um i i think I think Goose's goose's health ah seems to be a real... um kind of the, the factor. i don't know if linchpin is the right word, but like the X factor to this team and it's all offense. Um, and so it, I, assuming he stays there where I can't imagine he has a plenty suitors after two, uh, injured seasons, but, uh, I, I think they're in a really good spot. i I think right now they probably give a better ah fight than Southern Miss would have against James Madison, just the way they're playing with Goose.
01:21:34
Speaker
Probably. i mean, the the running game showed signs of life that it really hadn't all year. and Like you said, Goose probably played his best game of the season. I know he had been kind of in and out.
01:21:46
Speaker
um all year with injury. But yeah, i mean credit to Troy. Gerard dr Parker you know when it went out and got it done, and now they're they're playing for a Sunbelt title next week. So again, credit to them.
01:21:59
Speaker
ah nick Last game of the night, we don't have to spend a ton of time on this. ah James Madison beats Coastal 59-10. ah Again, another Tad Hudson masterclass. Okay, now Tad Hudson's uncle can click out of the video. Alonzo Barnett chopped them up 207 and three touchdowns. Joby Mallory, 12 carries 154 and a score.
01:22:22
Speaker
coastal was, was DOA. They were down 17, nothing after the first quarter. ah they did score. They did score a touchdown in the second quarter. And then that was pretty much it for the rest of the game.
01:22:33
Speaker
Uh, James Madison just put them through a wood chipper and you see now Tim Beck is, is looking for work elsewhere and, and coastal, even though they're making a bowl game is moving on and, uh, trying to find something else to do with the coaching spot.
01:22:45
Speaker
Yeah. Coastal, uh, What's really going to come to play in the conference championship game is just going to be how utterly dominant James Madison's defense is, especially on the ground. ah I mean, no matter what team it was, Southern Miss or Troy, both of those teams struggled to get those things moving um anyway.
01:23:05
Speaker
And in this game, Coastal, 22 carries for minus five yards away. And, you know, that includes the sack yardage of which James Madison had only two. Let's take Tad Hudson and Bryson Graves out of the equation. You're still looking at 15 carries for 10 yards as a team.
01:23:28
Speaker
So keep up the great work there. um Yeah, I think this is obviously a this is kind of an unfair end to ah Tim Beck's career. I think he deserved to be fired. You know, this was a worthy time to end it, but I don't think this, a 59 to 10 loss um is necessarily reflective of his time.
01:23:51
Speaker
ah Remember again, that they're missing their real best quarterback in Samari Collier. um And they're playing, what, again, I guess the committee is hesitant to name, but really should be the G5 rep in the ah the college football playoffs.
01:24:07
Speaker
I'm interested to see, I don't know if they've
G5 Playoff Eligibility Debate
01:24:10
Speaker
announced anything. So Summerall from Tulane is going to Florida, ah which I think is a little rich considering how they got on Billy Napier's butt for being Sunbelt Billy. And it's like, do you guys understand that three seasons ago, Summerall was at Troy?
01:24:28
Speaker
Like, I don't think they realize that. I think they just see Tulane and their eyes, like, glaze over. It's like, would things have really have changed if he had stopped in at Tulane for two seasons? Like, would you, do you think that changes who he is as a coach? Probably not. ah But I'd be interested. So I don't know if he, if they make it, if Tulane is ultimately the G5 rep for the playoff and,
01:24:51
Speaker
This field opens up a lot more if Duke beats Virginia, because there's a real chance that ACC doesn't have a rip in the in the in the playoff at all. I'd be interested to see if Summerall leaves Tulane, are they going to do what they did the committee did to Florida State that year where their quarterback got hurt and they were like, get them out of here?
01:25:13
Speaker
like Put somebody else in? I think, i mean, we're going to see the same thing play out with Ole Miss too. Like there's a world, especially if Ole Miss loses to Georgia in the SEC championship where they're just like, and it's not fair. It's not fair, but they just say. Well, Alabama's in the SEC championship game.
01:25:32
Speaker
Oh, ah that's so right. That's so right. Ole Miss had to have Alabama lose Auburn. That's right. That's right. And Auburn gave them a fight. Ole Miss is like, what, a one-loss team? Like, they should be in the playoff regardless. They should be, but yeah. i regard I'm sorry. Excuse me, but um yeah. I mean, we're about to find even more consistent. If you thought the four-team playoff was inconsistent, they have just tripled the opportunity to just pull stuff out of their ass.
01:26:05
Speaker
Right. Looking forward to it. What a time. Notre Dame notre dame is going to be a two seed in the playoff because they don't have to play a conference championship game. Well, they're... Oh, goodness.
01:26:17
Speaker
which It's awesome, dude. It's just awesome. It's so cool how it's all set up and how it doesn't matter what you do or how you play. it's just like It's brand recognition almost.
01:26:31
Speaker
It's splendid. It's awesome. I love it. I mean, keep in mind, there were there were arguments last year that we should keep Indiana out of the playoff when they were like 11-1. And it was like, wait, what are we talking about? Are we putting the best teams in? Or we just looking at like, man, it'd be so cool if Oregon was in instead or whatever whatever team it was that didn't get in. And it's like, but when do the on-field results actually matter? Or are we just saying like, let's pull up rivals and go through the number of five stars and make our decision that way?
01:27:04
Speaker
really Really, the only on-field results are those early season non-conference P4 versus G6 games where you can say, look, guys, the Sun Belt doesn't deserve this playoff spot because Texas beat down on Texas State or whoever it was they had in the early season. Yeah.
01:27:26
Speaker
yeah What a great world. What a mess. Yeah. We're going to knock Texas for losing to um ah Ohio state in, ah in week one of the season. They shouldn't have played that should have played the Citadel instead and just collected a free win. Um,
Listener Engagement and Expert Previews
01:27:43
Speaker
All right. So you can email the show warm of the fans at gmail.com. You can follow us on X or tip talk at warm weather fans. You can catch me on X at watch the stone Zeke. Let them know where they can find you on socials, but also let them know what we are cooking up for our yeah built preview coming out on Thursday.
01:28:03
Speaker
Yeah, ah well, you can find me on Twitter at Zeke Palermo, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. That's the boring part. The exciting part is that um you don't have to hear us yap about the conference championship game. ah In Thursday's episode, ah we're bringing in ah experts on James Madison and Troy.
01:28:23
Speaker
ah One we've already had on the show, Jack but Fitzpatrick, but then we get a real Troy expert. and Barry McKnight, who's a Troy's radio play-by-play guy. ah and we're going to hear their thoughts on their teams as we head into the ah the conference championship game. It's going to be really exciting. it's ah Those conversations have gone really, really well, and we're just really looking forward to ah being able to share that with you guys because – I don't know. Brian and I talk a lot about, ah you know, we probably spend an inequitable time talking about the Georgia teams, especially considering the disarray both of those teams are in.
01:28:57
Speaker
um So we're really excited to have some real experts about those teams give their insights to, you know, what we anticipate to be a pretty one-sided whooping, but Troy's pulled some pretty good results in the past couple weeks. um and they've They've got some mojo going on.
01:29:14
Speaker
Absolutely. So stay tuned with us. We will be back on Thursday with talks with Barry and Jack. This has been For Weather Fans.